Thursday, 18 April 2013

Sim Chi Yin | The Water Seller

Here's an excellentphoto story of a water seller in Myanmar by Singaporean photojournalist Sim Chi Yin. The young water seller's name is Chit Min Oo and this photo feature tells us about the hard life he leads in a country just unshackling itself from the chains of military autocracy.

Chit Min Oo lives in a slum about an hour outside of downtown Yangon, in a single-room hut with his mother, two brothers and a sister. At day break, Chit Min Oo and one of his brothers Pyay Sone Aung, head out onto the train tracks, fetch their buckets, fill them with blocks of ice and water from a nearby tank and jump on the Circle Line train, which remains the cheapest mode of public transport around Yangon.

They hop on and off these trains, weaving in and out of carriages offering their cups of water for mere pennies in the equivalent Burmese currency.

I wish the photo essay was accompanied by a soundtrack...imagine viewing the photographs along with ambient sound such as the rattle of the ancient trains on the tracks, the clicking of the mugs against the buckets, the yells of the sellers, the sound of people in the stations...!

Based in Beijing, Sim Chi Yin is a member of VII Photo Agency’s Mentor Program for emerging talents and was selected for the PDN30 – Photo District News’ top 30 “emerging photographers to watch” – in 2013. She photographs regularly for the New York Times. Since going freelance in 2011, she has also photographed for Le Monde, Newsweek, TIME magazine, Vogue USA, Financial Times Weekend Magazine, New York Times Sunday Magazine and Stern.

About The Travel Photographer

Based in New York City, I am a freelance photographer specializing in documenting endangered cultures
and traditional life ways of Asia, Latin America and Africa. My images, articles and photo features were published in various magazines, and my travel photographs were featured by some of the largest adventure travel companies in the United States and Great Britain, as well as in multinational corporations' art collections. My photographs have been acquired by an eclectic range of clients; from the Standard Chartered’ Bank's permanent art collection to Spike TV.

I also organize and lead photo expeditions and workshops for photographers who share my enthusiasm for unusual cultures,
uncommon locations and lesser known festivals. I'm a faculty member at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and give workshops at the Travel Photographer Society (Kuala Lumpur).